In a storage area network (SAN), a SAN management application monitors and manages manageable entities in the SAN. Each of the manageable entities is a component, or resource, deployed with other SAN components in a particular configuration. The manageable entities include storage arrays, connectivity devices, and hosts. Typically, software entities known as agents execute on the hosts for gathering, reporting, and monitoring the manageable entities in the SAN. The manageable entities are responsive to the agents for reporting various status metrics back to the agents and receiving control information from the agents. A management server executes the SAN management application, and oversees the agents. The management server is responsive to a console having a graphical user interface (GUI) for receiving and displaying operator parameters with a SAN operator.
In general, therefore, the storage area network (SAN) is a collection of data storage systems that are networked via a switching fabric to a number of host computer systems operating as data servers for user access. In a large storage area network, the interconnections between the manageable entities may become numerous and complex. A discovery operation identifies the topology of the SAN so that the management application may identify, manipulate, and report on each of the manageable entities and interconnections in the SAN. The management application, therefore, maintains the topology representation to enable a SAN operator to interactively provide direction to and receive feedback on SAN operation via an operator console.